Sunday, August 14, 2011

Family is where it’s at

So once again it’s been far too long since I’ve posted in my blog. My only defense is that life happens, and mine seems to be happening a LOT of late, so I haven’t gotten around to writing as much as I’d like to. Hopefully it’ll be better now.

So the summer is more than halfway over now, which really kind of freaks me out. Time passes so quickly these days. It kind of scares me. In any case, I have had some fantastic experiences this summer. Many of them have centered on my wonderful family. I think I’ve mentioned in here before, but I just love them so much! My life would not be complete without them.

I think I would feel lost if I couldn’t call my mom or dad when my evening didn’t go as planned, and I was really upset about it. Or if I couldn’t call my sister just to shoot the breeze for an hour on a weekend night. Or if I didn’t have a close relationship with my brother so when he and my sister-in-law purchase a car online they feel comfortable coming to stay at my house and having me shuttle them to the airport.

But since I’m close to all my siblings, there are all things I can and will do. I love my siblings, and it’s always a joy for me to see them and be a part of their lives. I dearly love being the favorite aunt to their children too.

It’s funny how often one of us plans a trip to Mom and Dad’s for the weekend. And when another of us hears about it, we plan our own trip to come at the same time so we can see each other. This is especially true if we haven’t seen each other for awhile. We know space will be limited, and it will surely be a beehive of activity while we’re there, but that doesn’t stop us. We just go anyway and do our best to roll with it. Perhaps we even enjoy the chaos to a certain extent, even if we may not admit it.

My mom often tells me that she considers it one of her greatest accomplishments that her children love to be together. I’m glad too because I think I have some of the best siblings in the world. And I’d like to take it one step further and include my extended family. We don’t all get together very often, but, we enjoy seeing each other when we do. It was great to have our first family reunion in 11 years earlier this summer and to catch up on one another’s lives. Things have changed a lot in that time.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the family for your enjoyment.

It all starts at the top—my wonderful grandparents and my cute parents.

Here’s my siblings and their families

My adopted family

Others of my extended family

See, aren’t we a great looking bunch? We’re happy and we love each other, and really that’s what matters the most anyway.